End of Days

**_Solid action/horror with Arnie_** The devil (Gabriel Byrne) comes to New York City to impregnate a chosen female (Robin Tunney) during the last hour of the second millennium to bring about the end of the world. The hope of humanity falls on an atheist ex-cop, Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzeneggar), and his partner (Kevin Pollak). Rod Steiger is also on hand as a no-nonsense Catholic priest. "End of Days" (1999) is a comic book action flick with horror/fantasy elements. It's not meant to be an accurate depiction of biblical eschatology. As such, it's useless to pick it apart on those grounds; just go with it and enjoy the ride. That said, there are some real-life subtexts and accurate biblical aspects. For instance, disillusionment due to the unjust death of a loved one (or any number of other tragedies) happens all the time. The movie is R-rated not just for the violence and cussing, but because the filmmakers try to convey the devil's filthy lawlessness, like a threesome with a mother & daughter in a brief dream sequence (which may be "reality," but it's hard to tell). Byrne has fun with the role of Satan. As a holiday action blockbuster with Schwarzenegger "End of Days" delivers the requisite thrills where there's a massive explosion about every 12 minutes. These types of movies only work if the story and the characters pull you into their world and the film accomplishes this just enough. It's no where near as good as the first two Terminator flicks, but it's close to being on par with the third one. Of course, "End of Days" is its own animal due to the apocalyptic, religious subject matter. On that note, the palette the filmmakers use is fittingly dark. The entire film takes place at night, mostly in the urban labyrinths of Gotham with additional sequences in Gothic churches, shadowy subterranean rooms and eerie woods. The film runs 2 hours, 1 minute, and was shot in New York City and the Los Angeles area. GRADE: B/B-

One of my favorite Arnold movies. A lot of crazy demonic people. Lots of action and a great storyline.

Arnie is ex-cop "Jericho" who runs an high end private security company. When an attempt is made on the life of one of his clients, he pursues a man throughout the city before being given a portentous warning by the would be assassin that the son of Satan is soon to be born. Now even he isn't going to but that, but as more mysterious happenings occur, he finds himself trying to keep "Christine" (Robin Tunney) safe from some henchmen, and from the Church - as she is sought by the big "D" himself (Gabriel Byrne). The plot is pretty flawed from start to finish. One would assume that however strong and resilient "Jericho might be, the fact that his foe could cause people to spontaneously combust at will would have but paid to any resistance fairly early on. Nope - he keeps coming back to fight another day - and after a while, that just becomes a little bit dull and leads to an ending that is as flat as it is predictable. I suppose I ought never to have expected much jeopardy, and neither the acting nor the dialogue really do much to elevate this from a very average outing for Schwarzenegger that offers us plenty of action but totally underplays the more demonic aspects of the plot that ought to have made this just a bit darker and more interesting. It is also way too long, and though well enough made, just left me feeling that I'd seen this all before, just in a different guise.